"Sad sight, sir. Yep."
"Oh, dear me!" said Jonathan.
Toby put a hand on the old man's shoulder. It was to hearten his grandfather's courage. And Toby smiled.
"Cheer up, gran'pa!" said he. "You isn't afeared, is you?"
"Hear that, Bill!" cried Jonathan.
Toby whistled a tune.
"Whistlin'!" said Bill. "Yet afore this v'y'ge is out ye may lie a blue corpse yourself on the ice!"
And Toby yawned.
"Yep," said he.
It was a cure. Archie and Bill and Jonathan burst into a roar of laughter. Toby was timid no longer. He could not be frightened by tales and gruesome suggestions to his imagination.